Letter from Europe: A Bavarian breeder's quest for beef tenderness

Saturday, March 1, 2008

An outspoken critic of European beef quality, this Angus cattle breeder is using DNA testing, among other tools, to guarantee quality and tenderness for his customers

by NORMAN DUNN

The European cattle market is finding that a tough reputation is hard to live down. Now, pioneering breeders want to guarantee tenderness to get steaks on the best-seller list.
Beef has always been second best among the red meats on the European mainland. In 2006, average per capita pork consumption in the 25 countries of the European Union was 42.5 kilograms, while beef managed just over 17 kilos.

This position is not only because of price. "That's what everyone thinks, of course," says a well-known German cattle breeder. "But the sad fact is that beef on the continent of Europe has never managed to achieve the consistent quality of pork or poultry. Even with steaks, there's a wide range of tenderness, fat content and texture. This gives an image of poor quality and, even worse, chronic inconsistency."

This outspoken critic of the beef sector knows what he's talking about. Dieter Dänzer started his business with four Angus cattle on his father's farm in northern Bavaria 50 years ago. These were daughters of the top imported British bull of that era, Blackantan of the Moss. Today, he runs over 450 head of black and red Angus cows calving from fall to Christmas and kept year-round on grazing or grass silage. Those calves not destined for the pedigree sales are fed to slaughter with the bulls kept entire and killed at 12 to 14 months, producing carcasses of up to 350 kilograms.

Apart from its size (the average beef calf herd in Europe has 30 to 40 cows), Dänzer's herd has another feature that sets it apart from most similar enterprises in Germany. All breeding lines have been selected not only for conformation and good calf production but for meat taste and tenderness quality, too.

Using the standard Warner-Bratzler test that records shear resistance for assessing tenderness in grilled steaks at 48 hours and 14 days post-slaughter, Dänzer started breeding only with the lines that produced results of four kilograms or under. It's a hallmark of the sort of steak you can cut with the edge of a fork instead of the more usual steak knife sawing.

By 2003, he'd also started testing for tenderness marker genes. DNA testing for marbling and tenderness from companies such as Genetic Solutions (GeneSTAR) and Merial Animal Health (Igenity) has accompanied the development of his herd since then. "Now I can say that 90 per cent of the carcasses I produce each year pass the four-kilogram tenderness test or better it," says Dänzer.

A comparatively recent Warner-Bratzler test series by scientists at the country's Kulmbach Institute for Meat Production and Market Research on the carcasses of over 100 randomly selected young beef bulls (average carcass weight 392 kilos) had only 10 per cent achieving a shear reading of four kgs or under.

Now, I don't want to leave you with the impression that no one else cares about the tenderness of beef in Europe. In Switzerland, for instance, top bulls are commonly sold nowadays with a GeneSTAR rating for tenderness and marbling.

Not only the Angus breed is involved in the tenderness revolution either. There are representatives of almost every European beef breed present.

One of the most enthusiastic breeds for genetic tenderness ratings is the comparatively newly arrived Japanese Wagyu with its highly-rated Kobe beef and very high tenderness ratings. Even burgers from Kobe beef are selling in London restaurants this winter at the equivalent of $115 apiece!

"There's the way we should be going with our European breeds," says Dänzer.

This entrepreneur has, in fact, already planned his own beef brand based on his favourite breed, the German Angus, and on promised tenderness. A co-operative of like-minded breeders has been formed.

"Just keep your eye on the beef-to-pork selling ratio in Germany," he says. "When you see pork sales dipping, then you'll know that beef with guaranteed tenderness is at last on the market!" BF

Norman Dunn writes about European agriculture from Germany.